In this research I examine the adaptive strategies and practices that an indigenous community uses to cope with stresses and threats of their local environment. I consider the premise that the continuous interactions with nature by a people who have lived in the same geographic region for great periods of time can lead to traditional ecological knowledge that benefits human well being, and can also result in practices that result in the protection and sustainable use of the natural resources of their environment. Case studies with the Seri Indians in Sonora, Mexico are provided to demonstrate how adaptive behaviors evolved in coastal-desert environment can affect health and also contribute to conservation. In each study, I examine practices that the Seri Indians use to cope with the constraints and opportunities inherent in their desert and sea environment. The case studies take place in 3 landscapes of different geographic scale and cultural contexts. The first study is of a seascape where ritual sea songs are sung to navigate through dangerous channel between two islands. The second study examines medicinal plant associations with the ironwood tree (Olneya tesota Gray) in a series of landscapes of the Central Gulf Coast of Sonora. The third study considers a group of five desert plants adapted by the Seri to treat diabetes in light of the biological and cultural factors that influenced the Seri selection of these plants. The studies demonstrate in different environments, spatial scales and cultural contexts, how dynamic human-environment interactions take place at the interface between biological and cultural adaptation; interactions that are mutually reinforced in the human experience.

Carbon sequestration in small-scale farming systems in semi-arid regions offers the possibility to increase local soil fertility, improve crop yields, enhance rural people's wellbeing, and strengthen the resilience of agricultural systems while reducing CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere and, thus, contributing to climate change mitigation. A variety of management practices and land use options have been proposed to increase carbon uptake and reduce system losses. So far, less attention has been paid to local smallholders, the ultimate agents of anticipated community carbon projects, and the complexity, diversity, and dynamics of their livelihoods in a highly variable and risk-prone environment. A hybrid research approach, combining biophysical, economic, cultural, and institutional analysis, was used to assess the potential for soil carbon sequestration in the Old Peanut Basin of Senegal. In situ soil and biomass measurements provided current carbon accounts. Historic carbon changes and future sequestration rates under various management practices were simulated with CENTURY, a biogeochemical model. The simulation results well represented general historic trends and carbon storage potential. However, they did not accurately reflect variable and flexible site-specific management strategies as farmers adapt to stress, shock, and crises over time. To account for these, distinct pathways of agricultural and environmental change were examined in Wolof and Serer villages and viable options for carbon sequestration were evaluated. Systems analysis was used to explore the various components that influence farmers' perceptions, choices, and decisions with respect to land management. Results showed that resource endowment and institutional and policy incentives determine which carbon sequestration activities might be most appropriate for different groups of farmers. Finally, a cost-benefit analysis and a cash-flow analysis (using STELLA) were performed to assess the financial profitability and economic feasibility of proposed management strategies. The study reveals large differences in these measures between farmers with low and high resource endowments. In most cases, local smallholders are not likely to have the investment capital necessary to implement the alternative management practices. A farmer-centered approach to carbon sequestration, as proposed by the study, can be used to more effectively address the needs and capacities of smallholders in dryland carbon offset programs.

This dissertation examines the meanings, mechanisms and logic of gendered political negotiations between Nixtayolero theater Collective and the Sandinista state in Nicaragua between 1979-90. I explore the drafting of the cultural policy of the FSLN as a party in government and the way Nixtayolero members worked that policy through over time; i.e., the way they envisioned the state/revolution and constructed their own identities in relation to and against it. For this I focus on the inter-connectedness of dominant tropes in Nicaraguan leftist political culture: the popular, vanguardism and production. I analyze this inter-connectedness asking how and why, under the pressure of U. S. sponsored aggression, the construction of the external enemy involved the creation of the enemy within in the process of building national unity. Focusing on the inter-connectedness of these three tropes also guided my examination of the contradictions and conflicts of authority within the group itself. Out of these contradictions and conflicts concerning authority came emergent cultures; i.e., local-specific counter-narratives and cultural praxes that defied the official "popular culture" of the state. In my analysis, the gendering effects of power techniques such as pastoral power became central. This notion allowed me to look at the gendered premises of Sandinista state formation (production associated with work outside the home as reason, patriarchal respect mores and honor-shame codes in the construction of masculinity) as generative logics affecting people's experience of revolution. Using this notion of power I was able to dispel the privileged knowledge position of the leaders of the party in government. As the state was forced to militarize there was a shift in notions of leadership related to production (increase in production for the war effort) and the popular. This shift involved going from communion with the people, consciousness raising and democratization of culture, towards a policy of professionalism and exclusive vanguard representation based on power as knowledge. This privileged knowledge position allowed guidance of consciousness and affirmed modernization. My thesis thus explores (a) the masculinization of nationalism and of revolutionary authority accompanied by (b) a simultaneous process of marginalization of difference and feminization of marginality, and (c) the eventual and also simultaneous subversion and reproduction of this gender order by Nixtayolero members in the latter half of Sandinista rule. Waging war against the external enemy thus became a matter of masculine honor, strength and virility. Internal ideological differences and conflict, on the other hand, involved feminization of the enemy within.

This document focuses upon the past and present role of the Native American flute in the Southwestern United States, with the primary emphasis being placed upon the present-day use of the flute. Through this study, I hope to provide an evaluation of the Native American flute's musical significance (past and present use, and current literature and capabilities) that will lead to its possible inclusion into the Western curriculum of collegiate music scholarship, and contribute to a greater understanding of the instrument. In addition, through the information that is generated and disclosed by this exploration, it is hoped that the Native American flute may begin to gain an overall acceptance as an instrument of cultural and musical distinction and merit, specifically within the world of collegiate music education. This document is divided into chapters dealing with past and present uses of the Native American flute. The "Introduction" states the purpose, scope, and justification for this study. Chapter 1 describes the physical characteristics of the past and present-day Native American flute. Chapter 2 deals exclusively with the past traditions and functions of the flute. For example, selected myths from various tribes that employ the Native American flute are discussed. Also in Chapter 2, the past ceremonial and non-ceremonial functions of the Native American flute are detailed. Chapter 3 deals exclusively with the flute as it is used in today's world. Here, the rise in status of the flute is illustrated by discussing four prominent performers, their recordings, and approach to flute playing. They are as follows: Kelvin Bizahaloni, R. Carlos Nakai, John Rainer, Jr., and Ward Jene Stroud. Also, three composers who are presently creating repertoire for this instrument are discussed. They are James DeMars, Gina Genova, and Jay Vosk. Chapter 4 deals with the ways in which the Native American flute can be imported into the college music curriculum. Finally, Chapter 5 summarizes the document and provides ideas for further study.

This study examines how the Cocopah maintain and express a sense of continuity with their past and how, in today's world, they use their understanding of the past to maintain their cultural identity in the present. An ethnohistorical reconstruction of Cocopah identity from the early period of contact explores the ways in which the political ecology of the Colorado River have influenced Cocopah identity. In approaching Cocopah identity from a political ecology perspective, it is argued that the federal bureaucracy's criteria for tribal status and the recognition of individuals as belonging to particular tribes are based on the commonly held notion of Indian tribes as being clearly distinguished, unchanging cultural entities occupying exclusively bounded tribal territories in stable ecosystems. Political ecology, in contrast, provides anthropology with a dynamic analytical framework in which to understand culture as adaptive systems. Political ecology provides a practical approach in which the interface between history and the dynamic complexities of diverse cultures within a local-global economic context can be examined. I add ethnicity theory to this political ecology framework in order to examine how these historical processes operate at the local level and how they affect Cocopah identity and cultural survival. The coping strategies that the Cocopahs applied to the ecological transformations of the lower Colorado River delta throughout the past 150 years have played a significant role in shaping present-day Cocopah identity. Recent economic development, provided by Indian gaming, has given the Cocopahs the opportunity to revitalize, redefine and perpetuate their cultural identity through the process of planning and developing a tribal museum and cultural center complex on the West Cocopah Reservation in southwestern Arizona.

For scholars of underdevelopment, Appalachia is an enigma. The vast and diverse natural resources of the region offer the potential for local prosperity, but much of the region is characterized by widespread poverty. Accordingly, many writers have tended to characterize Appalachia as a homogeneous region, in spite of its cultural, environmental, and economic diversity. This study assesses the causes and consequences of underdevelopment in Appalachia through a controlled comparison of two mountain communities: the Monacan Indians of Amherst County, Virginia, an aboriginal community located in the Blue Ridge foothills; and a mining community in Wyoming County, West Virginia, located in the rugged plateau coalbelt. Two mutually related theoretical approaches are used: the internal colonialism and dependency models. This study is concerned with the relationship between colonial processes within the region and the variable ways in which these have been related to conditions of economic dependency. The study begins with the hypothesis that each community is an internal colony, but that the extent of colonization and dependency may vary between the two, and that the historical processes of colonization and dependency may also vary profoundly between the two. To test this, several variables are examined, including who the initial colonizers were, salient cultural patterns of each community prior to and after colonization, traditional subsistence patterns, and local environmental factors which may have effected exploitative processes differentially in each community. It is shown that the differences in these variables between the two communities have had profound effects on their colonial experiences. Although doctrines of racial/ethnic superiority were used to justify colonial endeavors in both cases, these were much more salient in the case of the Monacans. While the Monacan's engagement with colonial forces began much earlier than that of the Euro-American settlers and their progeny in Wyoming County, various social, economic, and political changes have converged in recent years to allow the Monacans to break away from the bonds of colonialism and dependency. In Wyoming County, however, land alienation and a corporate controlled state government have severely crippled the possibility of local grassroots empowerment.

The patterns of Pueblo textile production, use, and exchange underwent dramatic change during the first two centuries of Spanish-colonial rule as precontact styles and technologies were modified, new ones embraced, and traditional systems of production and exchange were disrupted, usurped, and transformed. This study traces and interprets the historic and socioeconomic processes underlying these changes. Three major research questions are explored: (1) how were Pueblo systems of textile production and exchange organized prior to European contact? (2) how did contact with Spanish religious, political, and social institutions influence and transform these Pueblo systems; and (3) how did Pueblo societies compensate for these changes to ensure continuing supplies of native textiles for secular and ritual use? To evaluate these questions, the research constructs a general cross-cultural model of colonial textile change and then tests this model using archaeological and documentary data from the Pueblo Southwest for the period A.D. 1300-1850. Archaeological data from four regions are investigated and compared: the Hopi region, the Zuni region, the Rio Grande valley, and the eastern periphery. The research presents detailed technical analyses of archaeological textiles and production-related artifacts and features from the large, contact-period mission sites of Awatovi, Hawikuh, and Pecos, along with data from smaller assemblages. Using translations of primary Spanish accounts, the research considers the ways in which Franciscan missionaries, provincial governors, and other colonial entities appropriated Pueblo textiles and labor for Spanish-colonial purposes through systems of forced labor and tribute. The study assesses the impacts of this diversion on the organization of Pueblo textile production, including shifts in the gender of textile producers and in the contexts and scheduling of production activities. The adoption of new fibers and dyes and the growing use of Navajo, Hispanic, and imported fabrics by Pueblo consumers are also explored. On a broader level, the research traces the decline of textile production in the Eastern Pueblo region, the concomitant intensification of textile production among the Western Pueblos, the expansion of textile exchange networks on a regional scale, and the emergence of Hopi as the principal supplier of Pueblo textile needs.

The primary goal of my study was to evaluate strategies for promoting local support for wildlife conservation in Masai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) and the adjacent group ranches. This was done by determining the effects of the changing land tenure from communal to individual on the Maasai lives and wildlife, and the role of the revenue sharing program in enhancing support for wildlife conservation. The study used local people's suggestions to recommend strategies for improving revenue sharing. A combination of literature review, questionnaire-based surveys and participant observation methods were used to achieve these goals. The maintenance of a viable ecosystem in Mara has succeeded due to the traditionally benign relationship between the Maasai and wildlife. However, various factors continue to strain this relationship. First, increasing human population and encroachment of agriculture has diminished areas available for livestock and wildlife grazing. Second, the absence of compensation for loss of life and property to wildlife and inadequacy of the revenue sharing has increased people's antagonism towards wildlife. Third, since the local people are excluded from the management of MMNR and wildlife in general, they consider these activities external impositions. Fourth, subdivision of group ranches will severely reduce the land available for livestock and wildlife grazing and eliminate the traditional resource sharing strategy that has sustained the Maasai for centuries. This study also revealed that although the Maasai harbor many negative feelings towards MMNR, they consider it an important asset. Further, they are unwilling to give up pastoralism and expect to continue with communal grazing after subdivision which, is good for wildlife conservation. In view of this, I made the following recommendations: implement a regional land management system with a core wildlife area (the reserve) and a wildlife management-pastoral area surrounding the core, and designated zones for agriculture; support the above system with firm government policies and incentives; redesign the revenue sharing program to cover all the affected people; promote policies that encourage diversified wildlife-based enterprises including consumptive use; transfer much of the wildlife management responsibilities to the local people.

The process of language shift and maintenance of Yaqui and Mayo against Spanish is analyzed through an empirical study of the social network of four families (in each group a more conservative family in the use of the native language, and the other using more Spanish in everyday interactions). This interpretative analysis integrates a multidisciplinary system that incorporates the model of political ecology, along with the postulates and methodology of the ethnography of communication, linguistic conflict, social networks and the relationship between language and identity, through ideology. This empirical approach follows the model of linguistic anthropology, giving an account of the dynamic relationship between the social phenomenon and the linguistic one. A microanalysis allows us to observe the external, and mainly internal, processes articulated to the linguistic conflict developed within the family social networks. Thus, it is possible to do an objective approximation to the heterogeneous linguistic practice of the members of each family, and the social networks they are immersed in. In this sense we require not only a synchronic approach, but also a diachronic one, in order to construct brief lingual life histories of the members of the families, in which the matriarchs have played a very important roles in the process of language shift and resistance. Moreover, within each family, there is a considerable variety in the uses and functions they give to each language, linked to identities established by ideologies in permanent elaboration.

Gender is given a new definition that differs from the feminist conceptualization of the issue in this study of selected short stories by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) and Rabindranath Tagore (1865-1941). In the colonial ordering or pervasive power mechanism, gender regulates all men and all women. Gender is just as manifest in race, class, rank, manners, and beliefs as it is in sexual ordering. My new coinage of the term "genderization" is defined as an enforcement of power relationships and indicates either a negative or positive effect on society within colonial practices. Literature seen as an avenue of creative genderization leads to a fresh assessment of Kipling and Tagore. Despite a history of divisive practical conditions and a negative discursive heritage, a creative and conciliatory transformation of gender is contained within the short fiction of Kipling and Tagore. Indispensable in understanding postcolonialism, yet not credited for it, Kipling spoke from the forum of the ruling Anglo administration and indirectly undermined the rigid race policy. This author deserves more recognition for the cross cultural healing gestures within his Indian short stories. Tagore, the first non-European Nobel Prize winner and the father of Indian modernism, spoke in a muted manner to appease the persistent censorship and the hostilities of the orthodox Hindus against his desired modernist reforms. Well known in the West for his lyrical poetry, easily accredited as the spiritual mentor of Gandhi, Tagore is much less understood as a writer who used short story as a positive vehicle of reform. The idea of "structuration" proposed by Anthony Giddens, defines society in three distinct yet interactive structures that cover the practical world (political, economic, bureaucratic, and military), the discursive tradition (religion, literature, media, and education), and the unconscious (myth, music, cultural beliefs). Giddens' kinetic, inclusive, and flexible model helps to elucidate these cryptic short stories written during a transitional period of high imperialism. Biographical and sociopolitical data are intertextually brought together to reveal the subtexts of the short stories. These two dissimilar authors, responding to the great paradigm shift of modernism, nonetheless project an ideal world of rational and material progress in an international global union.